a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method of selectively crimping and/or cutting one or more elongate members, such as cables, and more particularly to a manually operated apparatus for accomplishing the crimping and/or cutting operations.
b) Background of the Invention
Cutting and crimping devices have been used in various industries to cut cable wires as well as crimp sleeves around the of two cable portions to form a loop or otherwise make a connection. One industrial application for such crimping/cutting operations is in the logging industry, and more particularly in a situation where two or more cables are placed around a group of logs to form a secured log bundle.
In a log transferring operation a bundle of logs is held in two U-shaped frames where the bottom portion of the log bundle is spaced above the floor or ground level.
There is provided a cable, possibly as long as 600 feet which is wound onto a drum. A crimping sleeve (i.e. a crimping connector) is inserted over the free end of the cable and moved down along the length of the cable. Then the free end of the cable is thrown over one end portion of the log bundle in the U-shaped frames. The free end of the cable is then pulled back under the log bundle, and then inserted into the end opening of the crimping sleeve through which it was originally inserted. Then a crimping apparatus clamps the crimping sleeve tightly against the two cable lengths within the opening of the crimping sleeve. This crimping operation is done possibly seven or eight times. After this, the cable from the coil is cut about six inches away from the end of the crimping sleeve to complete the formation of the loop around that end of the log bundle.
The same process is done on the other end portion of the log bundle. Generally two cable section loops will secure a log bundle sufficiently, although more loops can be used. When the log bundle is secured with the cable length, it is commonly ejected from the two fork frames into an adjacent body of water and the log bundle floats or is tugged through the body of water to a log separation and transport area.
There are other situations that require crimping and/or cutting of cables and the like. In some situations, the crimping and the cutting operation is accomplished as part of a single operation, where the crimping and the cutting are accomplished as a part of one operation.
The present invention is designed to accomplish both a crimping action and also a cutting action in a particularly convenient and effective manner.
This apparatus comprises a housing section, with an actuator section located in the housing. This actuator section in turn comprises an actuator that has a power section and a drive member having a drive portion for back and forth travel. There is a die assembly mounted in the housing section, and this die assembly has an operating region which comprises adjacent crimping and cutting regions. The die assembly comprises a first die member which is connected to the drive member and comprises a first crimping surface at the crimping region and a first cutting surface at the cutting region. There is also a second die member mounted to the housing and comprising a second crimping surface at the crimping region and a second cutting surface at the cutting region.
The first and second crimping surfaces and the first and second cutting surfaces are positioned opposite to one another and located so as the drive member moves the first drive member toward the operating region the first and second crimping surfaces coming into a crimping position relative to one another to be able to perform a crimping operation. Also, the first and second cutting surfaces come into a cutting position relative to one another to be able to perform a cutting operation.
The apparatus is arranged with an operating access opening connecting to the operating region. Thus, a member or members to be crimped and/or cut is able to be moved through said access opening into said operating location through either the crimping region or the cutting region to be crimped or cut, respectively. Alternatively, the member to be crimped and/or cut can be both crimped and cut in separate crimping and cutting operations while remaining in the operating region.
In a preferred form, the housing section comprises an upper housing portion and a lower housing portion aligned with one another along a longitudinal axis. The actuating section comprises a hydraulically-operated power section that comprises an outer cylindrical, vertically-aligned sidewall having upper and lower cap portions. The piston member is mounted in the cylinder for back and forth motion. The upper cap portion defines with the cylinder and the piston an upper chamber, and the lower cap portion defines with the cylinder and piston a lower chamber. A drive rod is connected to the piston and operably connected to the first die member.
In a preferred configuration, the first and second die members are positioned in the lower housing portion, and there is a guide structure comprising right and left guide portions engaging right and left portions of the upper first die member for movement back and forth in the guide portions.
The apparatus in the preferred configuration further comprises a positioning section which in a preferred from comprises one or more handles which can be grasped manually by a person to position the apparatus. Further, there is a control device mounted on at least one handle. This control device is operated to cause power to be delivered to said actuator section in a manner to cause the back and forth movement of the first die member.
Also, in the preferred configuration, the housing comprises an upper housing portion and a lower housing portion that are aligned along a longitudinal axis. The first and second die members are positioned in the lower section, and the first die member moves along a path in general alignment with the longitudinal axis.
The actuator section is arranged to move the drive portion back and forth along a drive axis, and the first crimping surface and the first cutting surface of the first die member are generally aligned with one another along a lateral axis having a substantial transverse alignment component generally perpendicular to the drive axis.
The crimping region and the cutting region are open to one another so that a member or portions of a member to be crimped and cut can be moved between said crimping and cutting regions without being removed from the operating region. Further, the access opening is spaced laterally from the operating region so that a member to be crimped and/or cut can be moved laterally into the operating region and selectively to either or both of said crimping and cutting regions. The access opening is laterally aligned with the operating region in a preferred configuration.
The housing has a longitudinal axis and the actuating section comprises a cylinder and piston assembly located in an upper housing portion, and has a drive access generally aligned with a longitudinal axis. The housing further comprises a lower housing portion at which the second die member is located, and the axis opening is located between the upper and lower housing portions and opens laterally to the operating region.
In a preferred form, the second die member is removably located in the lower housing section, so that the second die member can be removed and/or replaced.
The apparatus has a positioning section which comprises in one embodiment a handle which may be manually grasped. The handle has a first connecting portion connected to the housing and extended laterally from the longitudinal axis of the apparatus. In another configuration the positioning section comprises two handles one of which is attached to the upper housing portion and the other which is adjacent to the lower housing portion. Each of the handles are adapted to be manually grasped.
In the method of the present invention, an apparatus is provided as described above. An elongate member is placed in the operating region of the die assembly. This elongate member is located either between the first and second crimping surfaces or between the first and second cutting surfaces to accomplish either a cutting or crimping operation, respectively.
Then the drive member is operated to move the first die member toward the operating region to cause either the crimping of the elongate member or the cutting, depending upon the position of the elongate member.
The present invention also comprises a mounting assembly for the apparatus. This mounting apparatus comprises a mounting member, a laterally extending retractable and extendable support member, and a stretchable connecting member that connects the crimping and cutting apparatus to an outer extendable end of the support member.
Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.